The Weird Thing Happened Last Night....

[rpowell01]

Let me start off by giving just a little back information...I have Cervical DDD, Thoracic DDD and Lumbar DDD with radiculopathy from all three areas.

The Radiculopathy are in both arms, legs, toes, feet and in all of places in the chest wall muscles (pectoral muscles)...

This past Monday I had a Cervical ESI procedure. The doctor decided to do it at C7-T1. I advised him of a past ESI I had back in 2011 that only last 10 days. This doctor didn't want to do this one because he said if the last one only last 10 days then the one on monday will not help. I pled with him to at least lets give it a try because I am sick of the pain everywhere. So he agreed. He told me that this is a dangerous procedure but the effects of something happening is very small.

After he numbed the are he stuck the needle in at T1. As the needle went in I felt it big time and I said Oh no. The doctor said hey you oak and I told him that my arms and legs were going numb and boom they went paralyzed and my arms fell off the table dangling. He immediately pulled out the needle. They kept asking me if I was okay and I said yes then boom I couldn't answer them but I was awake and I knew they had their hand on my back shaking me. I finally was able to answer them and all the feeling came back to my arms and legs. My heart rate had jumped up to 138 and that is what scared them. I didn't know about my hr because I was worried about my arms and legs.

After about 5 minutes they allowed me to sit up and took me into the recovery room. I asked the doctor about my May 6th appointment and he said he is canceling it and that I can NEVER have any more ESI in my spine. In the recovery room boom it hit me again, my legs and arms went numb and I was about to pass out and the nurses came over to me then I came to. Finally after a certain time they let me go home but told me to keep watch on the area where the shot was given for possible infections.

On my way it happened again but I didn't tell my dad who took me that it happened.

So Tuesday came around and I felt okay not bad just my norm. Wednesday was the same and then yesterday came. So Thursday came around and I was fine, it was norm type of day, pain here, pain there, pain everywhere....Then about 4:30pm I took my son to football practice and before practice started I was out there throwing the football around some. I am at the point in my life that I am doing to do things pain or no pain. I threw about 5 pass then I didn't feel to good. Both my arms were hurting as was my upper back where he gave me that shot. So I grabbed these bars and just stretched my arms and upper back. Well practice got cancelled due to rain.

As we were driving home I told me kids that I didn't feel good or right. My stomach was nauseated and my neck and upper back just didn't feel too good. Whenever I got home I went straight to the bedroom and laid down on my bed and put an ice pack on my neck. The BOOOOM it hit, everything got worse, I felt sicker and more nauseated and as I was feeling for my heart rate in my neck it just stopped beating there and I felt I was about to pass out. I stood up and called my wife for help. She ran to me and she said my face was pale white or white as a ghost. I told her to call 911 and then she said you sure then I said no don't....I laid back on my bed and raised my feet up on some pillows. It took about 30 minutes for everything to go back to normal.

Well we decided to drive one hour + to the VA Hospital in Tampa because I wasn't sure if this was from the ESI or what. As I went in to triag they took my BP which was then 154/103 and I had a low grade fever...Didn't have the fever until I walked into the hospital doors. Anyway they immediately took me to a room and put an EKG on me. I told them nothing is wrong with my heart, I know my body and this is something from my spine doing all of this.

Well to shorten the story, they did blood work, EKG and did an MRI on my brain and my whole spine. The doctor came back in not even 5 minutes after I completed the MRI and said "We can't find anything that would be causing this".....He gave it a name and no it wasn't anxiety but something else. Basically he was saying "We know there is something wrong but we can't find where its coming from...So they send me home...

Today I am fine and back to my norm of pain. I started thinking this morning and I guess because of my whole spine being injured that this is how the body responds at times...I just don't know and would like to see if anybody ever had a similar situation like this and if I have the same spine conditions.

[rpowell01]

Okay well I have been finding out for the past few days that the Meloxicam was only half the problem. It appears there is something pretty darn bad going on with my neck. I get spasms and my neck tightens so tight it causes all kinds of issues. I am thinking that what ever is going on with my neck and with the meloxicam they two made my blood pressure go sky high which is causing me to feel sick and nauseated. I stopped the meloxicam last week and this past week I had to place an ice pack on my neck from C1 down to T1 in order to get my blood pressure to go back down.

Anybody with cervical problems here have a similar issue please do tell. What causes it? And what do you do for relief?

I think its time to have a long talk with the neuropain talk about sending me upstairs to see a surgeon because I cannot take this anymore. 1995-2010 was enough of the constant popping and headaches then from January 2010 to now its just has been pure "hell" for me. I can't understand why they won't give me better relief with the pain. Is the VA cutting back on pain killers?